100,000 cases a day by August....bloody hell

[ssd]

We're all going to get it eventually it seems

And what of the people who's cancer was missed or treatment delayed, heart surgery cancelled, etc etc etc

They didn't have the option to demand services were kept running for them.

Does only covid matter now?

Every bed occupied by a covid patient because cases were allowed to run rampant is a bed that can't go to someone suffering with something else.

@UnChatNoir

And what of the people who's cancer was missed or treatment delayed, heart surgery cancelled, etc etc etc

Exactly this.

Well there's a good chance treatment will be delayed again once when cases get higher and higher. Get ready for the staff absence disaster in our hospitals on the way.

Control the virus.

How? Can you also control the tide? Flu is still around after the 1918 pandemic.

Do people genuinely believe you can control a virus?

And what of the people who's cancer was missed or treatment delayed, heart surgery cancelled, etc etc etc

Make sure they get treated. But at the same time keep sensible things like mask wearing social distancing and some isolating when ill in place. Your realise many of the people who are immunosuppressed have cancer.

Control the virus.

Like the countries who don't really have lockdowns - and also have kept 152,000 more of their people alive that our government has.

Go on then, explain how we'd get there from where we are right now. I haven't seen an answer to this that isn't just 'we should have done things totally differently around 19 months ago' which may or may not be true but isn't remotely helpful given that we didn't.

I think it's very defeatist to suggest that there's no point even trying to control infection levels. Simple things like keeping the existing restrictions (hardly a "lockdown"!) in place for just a few more weeks to allow more double jabs to take effect could make a big difference. And keeping a mask mandate on public transport could potentially even help the economy if it reduces the number of people who suffer long-term illness or need hospital treatment.

@cushioncovers

What's the alternative though? You can't lock down society forever.

No, but you could lock down shitty Tory M.Ps who have no regard for anyone.

This is what I've been saying for weeks now.

Exponential growth, doubling times... it's basic maths.

But everyone has their heads in the sand.

@NannyAndJohn

This is what I've been saying for weeks now.

Exponential growth, doubling times... it's basic maths.

But everyone has their heads in the sand.

It doesn't matter because majority are vaccinated

I think people have forgotten 90% of people will be asymptomatic if they do even get it.
Stop being so dramatic.

@CrouchEndTiger12

Control the virus.

How? Can you also control the tide? Flu is still around after the 1918 pandemic.

Do people genuinely believe you can control a virus?

New Zealand has.

Tell that to the children who will spend the rest of their lives suffering from Long Covid, @Horehound.

@cushioncovers

What's the alternative though? You can't lock down society forever.

What we're doing now - not locked down but keeping some precautions in place.

You say “oh as long as the nhs is not overwhelmed”. You realise that hospitals won’t be staffed properly if doctors and nurses catch the virus right? It’s not just bed capacity we are talking about, if the people who make this NHS machine run are off sick this precious machine will not work and many people will needlessly die.

And yes many doctors have caught covid before but they can still catch again and they will have to isolate.
But yeah let the virus run wild and free. Problem solved.

@CrouchEndTiger12

Out of population of almost 70 million, 100000 cases that's what 0.14% of the population with covid. That's staggeringly low.

That's incredibly selective. We've already had 5 million cases and 130,000 deaths - and those are just the ones we know about. Before testing came in it's pretty certain that we had several thousand more that were not detected. That's staggeringly high. If we had had several plane crashes in a year leading to 130K deaths we would have grounded all planes.

"New Zealand has."

Yes but where do they go from here? Keep their borders tight shut and destroy their tourism economy? Or open the borders and accept that covid WILL come in? I have never understood the NZ exit strategy. I mean, I understand that they can get their vulnerable vaccinated and they will have many fewer deaths as a result, but at some point covid is going to rip through their education system as they will have no immunity. And then the rest of the world won't want NZ kids visiting their countries as they will be far more likely to be covid positive as they won't have developed immunity over time.

Does NZ explain their long term strategy anywhere?

"This is what I've been saying for weeks now.

Exponential growth, doubling times... it's basic maths.

But everyone has their heads in the sand."

Yeah, you keep saying it and ignoring the PPs who remind you we've had the vaccine now.

You didn't know the term "exponential growth" until last year. Turn the telly off and get yourself out. It's the same three posters every time. Just need Dusty for the hat trick

Watch what happens to New Zealand when they open the borders. Or will they stay closed forever?

NZ is bigger than the UK with a population of 5 million. Piss poor comparison

"New Zealand has."

Yeah, and now what for them?

We're nothing like New Zealand anyway so it's completely irrelevant.

If we had had several plane crashes in a year leading to 130K deaths we would have grounded all planes.

Every year around 78,000 people in the UK die from smoking.

Add in the alcohol and obesity deaths and you've got similar to covid.

Want to ban cigarettes, alcohol and fatty foods too???

"New Zealand has."

Yes but where do they go from here? Keep their borders tight shut and destroy their tourism economy? Or open the borders and accept that covid WILL come in? I have never understood the NZ exit strategy. I mean, I understand that they can get their vulnerable vaccinated and they will have many fewer deaths as a result, but at some point covid is going to rip through their education system as they will have no immunity. And then the rest of the world won't want NZ kids visiting their countries as they will be far more likely to be covid positive as they won't have developed immunity over time

Does NZ explain their long term strategy anywhere?

If I had a ticket and visa to NZ, I'd go in a flash.

Would I feel the same way going to the UK? No.

@CrouchEndTiger12

Out of population of almost 70 million, 100000 cases that's what 0.14% of the population with covid. That's staggeringly low.

It’s 100k per day, isn’t it? And Covid doesn’t only last one day. So the percentage of the population with Covid at any one time will be higher (possibly considerably higher) than your calculation.

On the news tonight they said ‘100k a day so pretty soon millions of us will have it’!

The opening up coinciding with English schools being shut is directly opposite to Scotland where things are opening just as schools go back. We're going to se a different pathway up here for sure.